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THE 



PEARLS OF THE GULF! 



A SERIES OF 



DIDACTIC POEMS 



Poetic Reader and Declaimer 
SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES. 



By SIDNEY N. MARQUES. 



*vf" 



CINCINNATI, OHIO: 

WRIQHTSON & CO., STEAM PRINTERS, 167 WALNUT STREET, 
1869. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by Sidney 
N. Ma.rq.tjes, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United 
States, for the Southern District of Ohio. 



ediatifltt. 



TO 



MISS E. MILES, 



AND 



The Youth of Both Sexes, 



M§ |lot[{i x§ 



nkxihd 



BY 



THE AUTHOR. 



CONTENTS. 



I. Purity of Morals in Literature. 
II. Verse that is Needed in This Day. 

III. Hints on Rhyme. 

IV. Terseness in Writing. 
V. Novels in General. 

VI. Poets. 

VII. Books in General. 
VIII. Short Words in Verse. 

IX. Justice in Writing. 
X. Demagogues. 

XI. Monarchial Governments. 
'XII. Republican Governments. 

XIII. Ancient Governments. 

XIV. Modern Governments 
XV. Laws. 

XVI. War. 

XVII. Leona's Pearls. 
XVIII. Evils of Eating Flesh. 
XIX. Advice to Citizens. 
XX. Suggestions to Authors. 



Preface and Essay. 



To produce a series of poems which shall be creditable 
to the literature of the age, has been my aim. I might 
have written on murder and Jove, and have become more 
celebrated in the denizens of crime, and more lauded by 
the votaries of prostitution ; but if success in poetry, or 
authorship in general, depends on poisoning the morals of 
youth, vitiating the principles of chastity in woman, and 
hardening the sensibilities of the aged, who are tottering 
on the verge of the grave, in their duties to God and man, 
— then I have no desire to succeed as an author, nor no 
wish to be known as a bard. 

In offering the " Pearls of the Gulf " to the public, I 
have little apology to make. I have written because I 
thought good might result. Every voice and appeal that 
is raised in behalf of sound literature must have a ten- 
dency to check the rapid inroads that are being made upoD 
it by loose writers in the present century. 

To produce a series of poems, which without the seduc- 



VI PEARLS OP THE GULF. 



tion of the amorous passions should be fascinating; with- 
out taxing the mind should be intelligible ; and which, 
without pandering to the taste for slang phrases and 
buffoon wit, should be entertaining — would be my aim 
were I competent. Although not capable of attaining 
such an excellence in point of literary production, yet I 
hope to have so written that wherever a page is opened, 
the mind may be arrested, and a subject suggested which 
the reader may weave into his own fancies and follow out 
at length. In many of our poems we are compelled to 
read for pages in continuation before a thought is set out 
in full relief. Here the pieces have been so arranged 
that they may be taken singly, as a proverbial or philoso- 
phical collection ; or they may be taken in connection, as 
a general dissertation on some of the more important sub- 
jects of literature. The advantage thus gained by the 
reader is not small. He finds thought set out in its ap- 
propriate meanings without having to read pages in con- 
tinuation, of inverted phrases, alternate rhymes, and 
twisted and hidden obscurities. 

If there is any one thing to which my attention has 
been paid more than another, it is perspicuity. The 
thoughts of a great many men are good enough. It is for 
the most part the manner in which a thought is stated, 
that makes it appear more forcible in the mouth of one 
man than of another. 



PREFACE AND ESSAY. Vll 



In offering the following poems as a series of scholastic 
exercises, I have constantly kept two objects in view — 
purity and strength of style. While one part of the 
world generally pronounces against poetry as being only 
fit for boarding school misses and effeminate youths, yet 
it is nevertheless true that all of us who have grown older 
owe a considerable part of our notions of refinement to 
the cultivation of poetry in our youthful days. Poetry, 
when well written, is both agreeable to the ear, and con- 
veys without effort, instruction to the understanding. It 
is this agreeableness and easiness of comprehension that 
make the young delight more to receive instruction 
through the medium of poetry than of prose. That a 
great part of the verse which is now issued in such floods 
from the press is puerile and weak in style ; that it is 
deficient in concentrated thought; that it borders on li- 
centiousness; and in short that it neither entertains nor 
instructs, I cannot deny. Yet because poetry, in some 
instances, has been written by men of coarse wit; by 
men whom nature never endowed with talent, nor who 
have improved themselves by their own efforts; because 
men have had the audacity to name their dogerile v 
Lyric, and their lewdness, Epic verse; because those 
who should have warmed the heart and polished our 
manner, have they rather made us cold and distrustful, 
and corrupted the gracefulness of our natural man- 



Viii PEARLS OF THE GULP. 



ners; and in fact because those who should have been 
poets have been wights — because of all this there is 
no reason why the art of poetry should not still assert 
its claims over the more polished and intelligent 
nations of the earth. The writing of love ditties for 
newspapers and the scrawling of melodies for the bar 
room and saloon do not constitute the art of poetry. 
True poetry is constantly dealing in the great. It is 
great in the description, it is great in comprehension, it 
is great in elucidation, and it is great in feeling. All the 
genius, or power of the electric thought that is floating 
through space, were it to settle on one man, would not 
make him capable of giving greatness to the habits of the 
trifler, or harmony to the discords of lewdness. Perhaps 
in this may be found one reason why there are so few 
living poets in the later ages. Men have undertaken to 
sing and write of that which is obnoxious to good morals 
and contrary to propriety in manners. Men are evidently 
more learned now than in ancient days ; there is a 
greater variety of subjects on which to display talent and 
diligence, yet no modern can claim the excellence of the 
ancient writers. But it was then a virtue and an honor to 
ennoble nature, it is now profitable to degrade and slander nature. 
Because poetry can deal in great truths and sublime de- 
scriptions in a short and concise manner, is perhaps one 
reason why it has so generally obtained footing as a 



PREFACE AND ESSAY. IX 

medium of instruction and amusement in most nations. 
To reach the moral sublime should be the aim of every 
one who attempts to reform and polish the morals of his 
age. To attain this end, not only an acquaintance with 
the actions of men is necessary, but the author must pos- 
sess the ability to write in a strong and original style. 
There are few truths, when expressed in an earnest and 
natural manner, to which attention is not paid. Persons 
without any acquired education are often seen confound- 
ing the subtile logic of the most scholastic logicians. It 
is because they use the logic or reasoning of nature: they 
speak to the point and they speak in earnest. This gene- 
rally convinces wh n the fine spun, lengthy and elaborate 
syllogism, cannot arrest the attention and convince the 
understanding. 

Now it is just as easy to start a child in the right di- 
rection in the school-room, or the nursery at home, as it is 
to start it in the wrong direction. As long as our primary 
school readers and nursery books, are filled with unmean- 
ing rhymes; as long as monotonous and singing species 
of verse are selected for the poetic exercises ; as long as 
all this is taught to the coming youth of the day, just sp 
long must we be fed with weak, senseless, monotonous, 
and uninstructive poetry. 

It is believed the exercises in this little volume will 
obviate many of the above errors if well inculcated in the 



PEARLS OP THE GULF. 



school room. The author prides himself to think that 
■while he has been free from affected sentimentalism, that 
he has still condensed many practical, philosophical, cri- 
tical, and moral precepts, in a simple and concise man- 
ner. Good poetry is not the effusion of an hour; it is the 
vision of nature ; the result of reflection ; and the sum of 
experience in life, delivered in regular numbers. 

The poems in this work have been divided into twenty, 
in order to correspond to the twenty weeks in a session at 
School. If one poem each week were committed to memo- 
ry and reeited at the close of the week, it is believed 
the pupil would not only receive a moral instruction, 
but that a taste for a higher style of composition would 
be growing in the young mind, than that which is incul- 
cated by the meaningless and irregular lines that fill our 
juvenile readers. 

With the belief that I may be an instrument helping to 
counteract some of the licentious poetry of the day; that 
I may put pointed and forcible sayings into the mouths of 
the youth; that I may help to arrest the taste for jigs, 
hornpipes, and obscene melodies, and for all those fanci- 
ful and puerile styles of verse with which we are now 
flooded ; these pages are respectfully submitted to the 
reading community. 

THE AUTHOR. 
New Braunfels, Texas, May 1869. 



INVOCATION. 



Give me, oh Muse ! to charm the soul, 
To warm the heart, instruct the whole; 
Give me the power to write with truth, 
To cheer old age and teach our youth! 



PEARLS OF THE GULF. 



I. 



PURITY OF MORALS IN LITERATURE. 



i. 



Now pureness first all thought demands, 
A page can make and unmake lands ; 
Greece with pure writers soared on high, 
But venal Rome dimmed her own sky. 



II. 



Two lines when pure may save a soul, 
Two lines obscene can kill the whole ; 
Who pen their thoughts are fathers still, 
To those they save or those they kill. 



14 PEARLS OF THE GULF. 



Ill . 

There is no pureness in blood tales, 
And all their wit 'gainst virtue rails ; 
Full forty talents feed our mind 
With coarsest food, a brutal kind ! 

IV. 

Full forty minds well versed in sin 
Teach all our youth how to begin ; 
Our masters great invent more woes 
And virtue hath her new-born foes. 

V. 

Are we now wise to write for death ? 
E'en while we live what is his wreath, 
The drunken praise of a vile crew ; 
No, they look pale, condemn you too ! 

VI. 

The ghastly crowds that feed on sin, 
All curse the hour they did begin ; 
And demon wights who make their tomb, 
But die to make for demons room. 



PEARLS OF THE GULP. 15 



VII. 

Is this an age in which to curse 
And write indecent and lewd verse ; 
This age when all men know to read, 
In which we talk with lightning's speed? 

VIII. 

This is the age now to be wise 
And reap rich laurels from the skies; 
One hundred million reading souls 
Are eager to receive your scrolls. 

i x. 

Who write their books of sinful loves, 
Who teach our youth to poison doves, 
These are dark shades and reared on high 
To cloud your sons' and daughters' sky. 

x. 

I charge thee this who writes a scroll, 
Nor man disgrace, nor kill the soul ; 
Though pays the world best for a lie, 
Yet for its gold men do not die ! 



16 PEARLS OP THE GULP. 



II. 



VERSE NEEDED IN THIS DAY. 



XI. 

It is quite plain the world doth need 
Some simple and plain verse to read ; 
A kind that will all thoughts condense 
With maxims terse on moral sense. 

XII. 

We want some verse to clear describe, 
Nor sink into the buffoon's gibe; 
One that will sing of earth and sky, 
And fit for all the world to buy. 

XIII . 

Some verse we need to suit the times, 
The language good, bone in the rhymes ; 
An honest, manly, English line, 
In which three words will sense confine. 



PEARLS OF THE GULF. 17 

XIV. 

Sententious, short, we want some rules 
Fit to be read in common schools ; 
While all the world doth need a verse, 
That does not rave, nor fume, nor curse. 

XV. 

The world wants verse on which to draw, 
A kind that hath a tone of law, 
That which is clear, decisive, plain, 
Which we may read, time and again. 

XVI. 

Verse should be kept within the eye, 
Nor be at first pitched in the sky : 
Now with your readers mild begin, 
And as you sing soft on them win. 

XVII. 

There is no wit in broken verse, 
One line to bless, and one to curse ; 
Still follow close with equal strains, 
Then sound and sense alike explains. 



18 PEARLS OF THE GULP. 



XVI II. 



Still as you sing, screen not a part, 
Inform the head, and touch the heart ; 
Your music should be sense and wit, 
Your great success the power to hit. 

XIX. 

A verse or line we sometimes bear, 
Of sweating bard invoking air ; 
But who doth catch the thoughtful mind 
Must write a thought and clear denned. 

XX. 

Now while mankind hath loss and gains, 
Sweats, tugs, for gold and breathes his pains, 
Who useful sings, exalts the soul, 
Makes heaven and earth with music roll ! 



PEARLS OF THE GULF. ID 



III. 



HINTS ON RHYME. 



xxi . 



Now while the spheres are most engaged, 
With mighty wars, with wars enraged, 
The gentle bards more humbly rhyme, 
And warn the world of wrongs in time. 



X XII. 



'Tis false as night that rhyme is weak, 
Or that 'tis some old monkish freak ; 
Two lines when written pure and clear, 
Can charm the soul, and please the ear*. 



xxiii . 



'Tis true all poets miss the times, 
Who write inverted jingling rhymes; 
And though they spin a lengthy line, 
Their threads are weak as cotton twine. 



20 PEARLS OF THE GULF. 

XXIV. 

Let rhyme on rhyme still follow close, 
Nor be much turned to wit jocose ; 
All thoughts are weak when spun too long, 
Condense your thoughts and save your song. 

XXV. 

A grave like style and half sublime 
Is suited best to thoughts in rhyme ; 
In this you can all thoughts indite, 
Heroic, and didactic, write. 

XXVI. 

Men studied long in ancient times, 
To-day we guess, then print our rhymes ; 
To authors most their rhymes are new, 
Perhaps one half have growled them through ! 

XXVII. 

Use not too lofty tone or style, 

At your strained verse sound sense will smile ; 

We weary soon with war's attire, 

The man at home we most admire. 



PEARLS OF THE GULF. 21 



XXVIII. 

Your lines should be of equal length, 
One long and short destroys the strength ; 
Who in such rhymes their thoughts infuse 
Have wooed at best some bastard muse. 

XXIX. 

Digest your thoughts before you write, 
Think on two lines, one day and night; 
For ages then the world admires, 
And lands your muse that well inspires. 

XXX. 

Still as you write, appeal to sense, 
Passion dies, wit's a poor defense ; 
Wit and passion live but a day, 
But age on age shines wisdom's ray. 



22 PEARLS OF THE GULF. 



IV. 



TERSENESS IN WHITING. 



XXXI. 



This you will find by reading long, 
Thoughts are the same in prose and song ; 
The verse but shows our thoughts compact, 
This is and all the poet's tact. 

XXXII. 

The meagre thought that is not good, 
Becomes still less in lace and hood ; 
'Tis like a pigmy in full dress, 
The little man looks all the less ! 

XXXIII. 

"Whoever writes and writes not terse, 
Makes not a long and meaning verse ; 
But a short line if made compact 
Displays at once good poet tact. 



PEARLS OF THE GULP. 23 



XXXIV. 

The lengthy line that does not hit, 
But ill conceals your labored wit, 
Yet some do best to make a sound, 
You find it so the world all round. 

XXXV. 

That line's the longest which hath sense, 
And written plain without pretense ; 
So wrfte the thought is seen at sight, 
This shows poet from poet wight. 

XXXVI. 

Be not too lengthy in your speech, 
Those do the best who tersely teach ; 
There are good books would oft be read, 
But still anon they drag with lead. 

X X XVII . 

The world is most in a great strain, 
They rush, they fly, they work with pain ; 
But the staid few who steady walk, 
At ease, with wit and wisdom talk. 



24 PEARLS OF THE GULF. 



XXXVIII. 

True wit is not in quick replies, 
Nor wisdom's in mere talk of skies ; 
Wit is a volume in one word, 
Wisdom the truths all time hath heard. 

X XX IX . 

There are few " loits " who cannot write 
And leave all terseness out of sight; 
In shackling verse or hasty prose, 
The greatest wind the longest blows. 

X L. 

Time is a critic true and just, 
Here saves one book, hides one in dust ; 
Then write for time, time is quite terse, 
And time is filled with natures verse. 



PEARLS OF THE GULF. 25 



V. 



NOVELS IN GENERAL. 



X LI. 

These worthless books, birth of the hour, 
Fall on the land a scorching shower ; 
With printed sin the earth now groans, 
While distant still sweet virtue moans. 

X L I I . 

Still from our novels all is caught, 

We rule, we war, have bled and fought ; 

No man doth read a novel o'er, 

But thinks himself the biggest bore ! 

XL I II . 

The maid at church affects the queen, 
The coalman now a king has been ; 
Each lad and lass an author grown, 
Laughs at old books and makes its own! 



26 PEARLS OF THE GULP. 



XLI V . 

At home our women sit and pine, 
They read till twelve, then sleep till nine ; 
At ten they take a romance meal, 
And then complain how bad they feel. 

XL V. 

Each blushing belle weeps o'er her wrongs, 
And dies for more of jove's love songs; 
And some do die, Grod knows it well, 
Such songs lead down to death and hell. 

XL V I . 

The pompous tone, the sailor's phrase, 
With scoffs and jeers at virtue's ways ; 
These fill our books, our novels fill, 
With amours oft the soul to kill. 

xlvii . 

Were your whole object but a name, 
You should write pure and have great fame ; 
All men would praise fair virtue's friend, 
Long lives your fame in the long end ! 



PEARLS OF THE GULF. 27 

X L V I I I. 

Too oft to-day we write for fame, 
Yet in the grave hear not our name ; 
And if 'twere heard how we would weep, 
For most the world our errors keep. 

XLIX. 

Wilt tell me this is a learned age, 
When for such errors we do rage ? 
Great scholars all do love the chaste. 
Clowns most have got a clownish taste, 

L. 

Forth from the earth comes a loud cry, 
It reels and rocks along the sky — 
" Woe ! woe ! to those who kill the soul," 
" Woe ! woe ! to the foul written scroll." 



28 PEARLS OF TTIE GULP. 



VI. 



POETS. 



LI . 



All men do sing in this late age, 

And all affect the scholar sage ; 

But ere their songs you do well learn 

Some hardship proves them prose in turn. 



L I I. 



Poets should oft view the great sky, 
And note vast worlds that round them fly ; 
Then would their souls with greatness grow, 
And they would not write what made woe. 



L III. 



If with grave minds they range bright groves, 
They will then write what virtue loves ; 
In the cool shades their minds expand, 
Each has a goddess at command. 



PEARLS OF THE GULP. 29 



LI V. 

To learn the skies they think on stars, 
Here look on arts, now smoke of wars ; 
Now hear they view the well tilled ground, 
And here observe the flocks around. 

L V . 

Poets like all with sin are grieved, 
Sometimes are right then set deceived ; 
But with their minds bent "to one end, 
They are the world's best and true friend. 

L V I. 

Now as through life they constant stray, 
They hang with rags, now bright array ; 
Here they are blessed, then sometimes cursed, 
In darkness plunged, in light immersed. 

L V II. 

Mankind is made of errors all, 
Men quickly rise, as quickly fall — 
Nature's poets have least desire 
To rise or fall with battle's fire. 



30 PEARLS OF THE GULF. 



L VII I . 

Who constant trades, who constant wars, 
Thinks not on souls, thinks not on stars ; 
Then do not curse the poet mind, 
It writes and sings for all mankind. 

Lix . 

Man's but a thought of the Great Soul, 
Warm space his name, or life the whole, 
Born in the sun at first quite pure, 
But these foul airs does ill endure. 

L X . 

Is it then wise in man to write 
And make still darker man's dark night? 
Methinks enough with woes we groan, 
And no true bard will add his own ! 



PEARLS OF THE GULP. 31 



VII. 



BOOKS IN GENERAL. 



L X I . 

Who sings a song or writes a book 
Should all along most pleasant look, 
Save when the times deserves a stroke, 
A homely thrust or genteel joke ! 

L X I I. 

The books around, some thoughts are dull ; 
In one the borrowed thought is full ; 
One book with wars doth constant blaze, 
One follows Christ and His mild ways. 

LX II . 

Still in each book a form doth rise 
That seems to rule in its own skies ; 
A monster now still raving deep, 
Then a soft form that sad doth weep. 



32 PEARLS OF THE GULF. 



LXI V . 



Men are sad mortals, hard to please, 
Each hath in mind some sore disease ; 
Some for all ills their books compose, 
Those please the best who find most woes. 

lx v. 

The tomes that most doth musty grow, 
Are those where reason least doth flow; 
'Tis a strange fact, buffoons love sense, 
Though they laugh loud at its expense. 

L X V I . 

Grave writers on grave subjects die, 
All cannot see with their gloom eye ; 
Let living thoughts compose your page, 
No subject then but will engage. 

L X V I I . 

Some give their thoughts to virtue's laws, 
Without seeming defend her cause; 
E'en though they write on planes and spheres ; 
They still explain what good appears. 



PEARLS OP THE GULP. 33 



LX VI II. 

Books are all sermons bad or good, 
Written obscure, plain understood ; 
At best each author does but preach, 
The world's a church which he doth teach. 

LXIX. 

Do ye grant license to all men, 
Who drunk or sober grasp the pen ? 
Ye are all drunk who have no taste. 
Save for drunk wit that makes unchaste. 

LXX. 

The world's corrupt, its church is wrong, 
That feeds eager on whoreson song ; 
And ye who write for this lewd church 
Are witless games on your foul perch ! 



34 PEARLS OF THE GULP. 



VIII. 



SHORT WORDS IN VERSE. 



LXXI. 



Short words are best to use in verse, 
They run more smoothly on and terse; 
The song abrupt with lengthy word, 
Goes begging round yet is not heard. 

LXXII. 

We write more plain and long endure, 
When thought breaks forth in short words pure ; 
The lengthy words most show pretense, 
We use them most for want of sense. 

LXX I II . 

Long words from half inventions flow, 
Born most in brains that sickly grow ; 
From first root words we force a shoot, 
Then grow surprised at the sick fruit ! 



PEARLS OP THE GULP. 35 



L X XI V. 

'Tis strange, but true, short are most nouns, 
Save names of kingdoms, lands and towns ; 
Strong words it seems love a short name, 
Take sin, take death, take love and fame. 

LXX V. 

'Tis these noun words make a strong verse, 
No thoughts with these you can rehearse ; 
From most our poems take long words, 
The meagre thoughts would starve the birds. 

LX X V I . 

With lengthy speech our language sinks ; 

Nor he is staid who hotly thinks; 

The half spelled word, the broken phrase, 

These have no power our thoughts to raise. 

) 

LX XVII. 

Talk not with foreign tone and phrase, ' 

We are all natives in these days ; 
Who cannot write in his own tongue, 
Deserves his book in darkness flung. 



36 PEARLS OF THE GULP. 



LXX VIII. 



Now give your thoughts a handsome turn, 
No frowns and scowls the world will learn ; 
Your thoughts should be chaste and genteel, 
Write thus and make the millions feel. 

L XXIX. 

With lengthy word our poets write, 
And as they sing, still grows the night; 
A half sick beam wans all along, 
In double darkness ends their song. 

LXX X . 

Who writes a song should most instruct, 
To useful end our thoughts conduct — 
With lengthy words we most confuse, 
Then frowns the world and blames the muse. 



PEARLS OF THE GULF. 37 



IX. 



JUSTICE IN WRITINO. 



LXXXI. 

In all your thoughts let justice rule, 
Be warm, yet in your heat be cool ; 
The luckless muse that gets too warm, 
From justice strays and comes to harm. 

L XXXII. 

He who is just with honor grows, 
'Tis strange but justice hath few foes ; 
Criminals arraigned on charge of guilt 
N'er call the judge to touch the hilt. 

L XXXIII. 

At your just thoughts dull wits may sneer, 
But they will change ere runs the year ; 
The worst at times think on the good, 
Then they will read in friendship's mood. 



38 PEARLS OF THE GULP. 

LXXXIV. 

Just authors most expose all vice, 
Yet ere they preach they do pray twice ; . 
Who makes a straying soul to turn, 
Must not himself with follies burn. 

L XXXV. 

Now justice still doth make no boast, 
E'en braggarts swear at braggarts most; 
Full fifty authors drown each day 
For swimming off in froth and spray. 

LXXX VI. 

Our taste's declined, almost corrupt, 
Men are called wise who write abrupt : 
Write on murder and stolen love, 
And you will please the world and jove. 

LXXXVII. 

But Jove is now a fallen god, 

And knows it too each wight and clod ; 

From pole to pole now justice grows, 

To murder and "jove " we now grow foes. 



PEARLS OF THE GULP. 39 



L XX X V I II . 

He who is just no man defames, 
Nor praises man ere he hath claims- 
He takes all vice in one great class, 
In mercy lets its authors pass. 

LX X X IX. 

There is enough on which to write, 
Without exposing some dull wight ! 
And if you praise you should be wise, 
For whom you praise must stand all eyes. 

xc. 

Now give your thoughts to justice ways. 
Let her bright robes still constant blaze ; 
Then age on age shall live by song, 
Nor man nor time shall prove thee wrong. 



40 PEARLS OF THE GULF. 



X. 



DEMAGOGUES. 



xci . 

Most men to office now aspire, 
For office set the world on fire ; 
From state to state the clamor grows, 
Men stab their friends and kiss their foes. 

x ci I. 

One buys him good report with gold, 
Though steeped in sin, in crimes grow old ; 
All can with ease buy a short fame — 
They win the spoils though dies their name* 

xci II . I 

Here one doth steep the crowd with rum, 
Stands on a barrel and bids them come ; 
The untaught mass huzza aloud, 
While demo shouts from out the cloud. 



PEARLS OF THE GULF. 41 

XC I V. ' 

For office half mankind would die, 
Trade off their souls and bribe the sky ; 
What boots it to be known in hell, 
Could ye not rise in heaven as well ? 

X C V. 

In deep intrigues men cloud the light, 
Or with dark thoughts wake through the night; 
Free votes are scarce, who buys his throne, 
Must make all clubs and clowns his own. 

XC VI. 

The artful man now stumps the land, 
Now gr;isps the farmer by the h?;nd ; 
Still as he shakes their honest bones, 
He coughs and hems with city tones. 

XC VI I . 

To make men rich he has same plans, 
He tells them o'er as still he fans ; 
He has some post for each good friend — 
Most out door posts found in the end ! 



42 PEARLS OF THE GULP. 



X C VIII. 



From morn till night he buys and bribes, - 
Drinks, smirks, and makes halfwitted gibes; 
With promise oft he moves the crowd — 
They wave their caps, and shout aloud ! 

XCIX . 

What cares that man if lands go down, 
If famine spreads from town to town? 
What cares he for our name from home — 
What is his speech in our State dome ? 

c. 

His heart for office first was sold, 
Each day he burns his soul for gold ; 
Though feasted well, he hungers still, 
And feeds delight at the great swill ! 



TEARLS OF THE GULF. 



XI. 



MONARCHIAL GOVERNMENTS. 



ci. 

Still o'er his land the king doth rule ; 
He may reign well if born no fool. 
That land is rich with a wise king, 
Forsaken, poor, with some crowned thing. 

aii. 

Kings should bring virtue to their lands, 
To worth and wit reach royal hands ; 
The crown that frowns on learning's sage, 
To death sinks down in its own age. 

qui. 

Here now one kingdom sinks to earth, 
The king rules most o'er wine and mirth ; 
The obscene court affects the land — 
Kings, courtiers, all one drunken band. 



44 PEARLS OF THE GULP. 



CIV. 

One reigns full long a sober man, 
For his land's weal doth wisely plan ; 
From year to year his nation stands. 
Its fame wide-spread in foreign lands. 

C V . 

To wield the sword one king aspires, 
And drains his land with martial fires ; 
War-kings, sharp swords, and burning salt, 
Can sink a land, make virtue halt ! 

CVI . 

A king is chief, or the first head, 
His subjects love him still or dread — 
Plow great that chief if first in peace, 
How small his name if war his lease. 

C VII. 

A king gives to the land a name, 
All still alike partake his fame ; 
At home, abroad, in distant climes, 
As is the king, so are his times ! 



PEARLS OF THE GULF. 45 

C VI I I . 

Most kings have power to do great good, 
All could be great if still they would ; 
11 Jiile lengthy council argues still, 
Wise kings could save the souls they kill, 

ci x. 

That land is born to live an age 

Where rules the monarch, wisdom's sage ; 

Sinks in a day the fated throne, 

That some crowned puppet calls his own. 

ex . 

Thus still as wag the nations on, 
They now are born, and now are gone : 
Nations, kings, kingdoms, subjects, all, 
Are doomed alike to rise and fall. 



46 PEARLS OF THE GULP. 



XII. 



REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENTS. 



CXI. 



Free speech, free votes, and all things free, 
In this great age some States agree ; 
If they are free, wise is the plan, 
All would be free from beast to man ! 

c XI i . 

If virtue guides us fast we grow, 
Nor man's to man, a tyrant, foe ; 
If most the nation is unwise, 
Wisdom must live in dark disguise. 

CXI II . 

i 
Wise is the form when men are poor, 
When virtue's sons stand on the floor ; 
A path to death when rich, corrupt, 
When write and speak all men abrupt. 



PEARLS OF THE GULP. 47 



CXI V . 

Lands have gone down when grown to free, 
Have felled to earth their growing tree ; 
The aiddy mass when grown too warm, 
Bring woes, and bring their land to harm. 

cx v. 

One part would be exempt from war, 
Part make this ill their guiding star- — 
Then to be free one half must fio;ht 
Though their pure souls deny it right. 

CX VI . 

Here one free land doth fast arise 
And spreads abroad its brilliant skies ; 
One kingdom sinks into the dust 
And dies perforce because it must. 

CX V I I . 

All are not free where freedom rings, 
Nor are all slaves who bow to kings ; 
Still to be free we must be wise, 
Wake up, love man, and learn the skies. 



48 PEARLS OP THE GULF. 



CX VII I. 

The age lias come to be new born, 
To make all lands shine like the morn ; 
From age to age great nations rise 
But still we war 'neath God's free skies. 

C X I X . 

Lands now should live a lengthy day, 
Grow wise, and bask in learning's ray; 
From age to age each land should grow, 
Man friend to man, to beast no foe. 

C X X . 

The clouds are dark still in our day, 
Nor are we free when forced to slay : 
Land of my birth; read well this rhyme, 
What sheddeth blood dies ere its time. 



PEARLS OF THE GULF. 49 



XIII. 



ANCIENT GOVERNMENTS. 



CX X I . 



In ancient days some lands were wise, 
Nor worth and learning would despise ; 
The victor still crowned in the ring — 
Science and art had each its kins. 

C X X I I . 

Who sold his name was shamed aloud, 
Hissed at and shunned by the pure crowd ; 
And who did bribe was banished far, 
Or sent to die in foreign war. 

c x x III . 

Men were then proud of a good name, 
To be upright made men great fame \ 
The driviling dolts who killed their souls, 
Had not their names on virtue's scrolls. 



50 PEARLS OP THE GULP. 



CX XIV. 

Men gained not honors in an hour, 
Nor lost them soon by wiyhts in power; 
A youth of \irtue gained the day, 
And to old age would honors stay. 

C X X V. 

Unwise at times, they fought in war, 

But when they fought would sink their star ; 

Seldom to fame would lands arise, 

When glaring still with deadly eyes. 

C X X V I . 

With poisoned flesh some killed their life, 
What wonder then if blood were rife — 
If they arose and sank in woe, 
And longed to meet with the hot foe ? 



ex x v 1 1 . 



With polished science now we dwell, 
What risfht have we to make a hell ? 
Yet half our arts do make us grown, 
True science yet is not full blown. 



PEARLS OP THE GULP. 51 



C XX VIII. 

Virtue once held a noble sway, 
In deed and precept men would pay; 
And the wise ruler loved his land, 
And with mankind would humbly stand. 

C X X IX . 

Those days are past men, grew in wealth, 
Fell with disease, lost nature's health; 
Each land gave birth to her sick sons, 
Wit and learning sought out death's guns. 

C XXX. 

When most mankind did till the soil, 
They had no thirst for war's turmoil, 
Larse cities grew an d their hot breath, 
Gave birth to woes, to war, and death. 



52 TEARLS OF THE GULF. 



XIV. 



MODERN GOVERNMENTS. 



CXXXI . 



Nations to-day are strange composed, 
To heaven and war alike disposed ; 
One-half mankind would dwell with Grod, 
One-half with blood would stain the sod. 



CX X XII. 



Our modern times are made for woe, 
If to the land comes the dark foe ; 
Science hath trained the deadly ball, 
The art of death makes whole ranks fall. 



CX X XIII. 



Men now proclaim for peace aloud, 
And to them leans full half the crowd ; 
But one dark man in modern times, 
Mars half, as one false line in rhymes. 



PEARLS OF THE GULP. 53 



C X XX IV. 

In this and that perhaps we've gained, 
But virtue still is somewhat stained — 
In civil broils we slay our sons, 
Men are called wise who make death's guns, 

CXXX V. 

We have a press for good or bad, 
You write and publish, pleased or mad ; 
One question now the world but asks, 
For which two sides do we wear masks ? 

CX XXVI. 

Learning now sits within our halls, 
And for reform still loudly calls ; 
And soon or late we must reform, 
Or sinks the world in a dark storm. 

CX XX V II . 

These modern times slip fast away, ., 

The morrow still is a fresh day ; 

But to old errors most do cling, 

Yet comes the day when truth shall sing. 



54 PEARLS OF THE GULP. 



CXXX VIII. 

By slow degrees we still progress, 
We feel our woes still less and less ; 
'Tis now called sin your brutes to stint, 
And some now fear to lie in print. 

CXXXI X. 

A wondrous work falls to the times, 
Both prose and verse must teach all climes ; 
Fair science now hath turned her eye, 
And now she questions why men die. 

CX L. 

From day to day the question grows, 
How men shall dwell and how repose ; 
When mankind fears to live on blood, 
Our woes will then be a small brood. 



PEARLS OF THE GULF. 55 



XV. 



LAWS. 



CXLI. 



A nations's laws compose its strength, 
If they are wise it lives a length ; 
Or yet if shallow, crime prevails, 
Man takes from man, and man assails. 



cx L I I. 



Few printed laws a land requires, 
As seldom needs she martial fires; 
One single statute makes the whole, 
'Tis j 'astice still from pole to pole. 



C XLI I I. 



What justice is all men must say, 
Or here or there as is their day ; 
Still to be just all nature learns, 
In man and beasts this fire still burns. 



56 PEARLS OF THE GTJLF. 



C XLI V. 

Who make your laws should be wise men, 
Well versed in all of human ken ; 
All maxims good they can combine, 
From dross the richer ore refine. 

C XLV . 

Each land hath still some form of law, 
Some precepts still on which to draw J 
Now written out on tablets plain, 
Or known intact in the great brain. 

CX L VI. 

All laws should be concise and clear, 
The main intent should plain appear; 
Who write their laws in doubtful words, 
At best make food for legal herds. 

CX L VI I. 

A weighty matter is your laws, 
Lest still composed of ills and flaws, 
The criminal still advantage takes, 
And on their flaws his soul forsakes. 



PEARL3 OF THE GULP. 57 



CX L VI I I. 

Mankind makes laws and man obeys, 
Or the offender still far strays ; 
All laws in mercy should be made, 
Gentle, and mild, still firm and staid. 

C X L I X . 

The law severe engenders ill, 
What's left of virtue still you kill; 
Two men to one would criminals turn, 
If criminals still we dared to burn. 

CL . 

Let all the world pure laws compose, 
Let not our laws still make us foes ; 
Crime most doth flow from crowded downs, 
Then make some laws to thin your towns. 



58 PEARLS OF THE GULF. 



XVI. 



WAR. 



** CLI. 

War is a woe and double curse, 

No quarrel by war but doth grow worse ; 

Still as we war our anger grows, 

And some half friends become full foes. 

C L II . 

To-day a land doth smile in peace 
To-morrow death takes a long lease — 
Sons, fathers, brothers, all arise, 
And meet to sink in bloody skies. 

O L I I I . 

We are unwise nor have we tact, 
Can we not save the crimson act. 
Old sires now tell their battles o'er, 
And teach our youth the love of gore. 



PEARLS OF THE GULF. 59 

CLI V. 

On blood and wrongs our speeches turn, 
For dark revenge we thirst and burn ; 
Mind still inflames its brother mind, 
And all consent to slay their kind. 



C L V 



What woes, what wrongs, what deaths accrue, 
From one short speech of purple hue — 
Would that dark demons as they foam, 
Could see the corse and burning home ! 

CLVl. 

Still as we war our arts go down. 
Fair science still is chained and bound; 
One thought but fills the public mind, 
The ways and means to slay mankind. 

CL VII. 

Our youths grow up to virtue foes, 
Nor see, nor feel, for wrongs and woes ; 
Like hardened iron their calloused hearts, 
Their souls nor feel, nor conscience smarts. 



60 PEARLS OP THE GULP. 

CL V III. 

The flames of war spread through the land, 
Man now meets man with death in hand; 
Who leaves the train of greatest woe, 
Makes still his honors brightest grow. 

CLI X. 

Men pride themselves on being learned, 
That to refinement they are turned — 
Great scholars all do love the pure, 
No true refined draw blood I'm sure ! 

c L x. 

Ye warring worlds, once sheath your swords, 
Or if ye war, war but with words ; 
Your passions then might grow more cool, 
Ye might gain fame in wisdom's school. 



PEARLS OP THE GULP. 61 



XVII. 



LEONA'S PEARLS. 



C L XI. 



The long desire will live at length, 
As God and Nature give it strength; 
Still flash on flash electric plays, 
And bursts at last in living rays. 

CLXII. 

Each thing's a thought, the land the sea, 
Suns, moons, and stars, the breath of thee, 
But in one thought shall all thoughts live — 
'Tis love and all that time can give. 

CLX 1 1 1 . 

Good thoughts, good deeds, these all arise, 
When on great heaven we fix our eyes ; 
And heaven is space, below, above, 
Then look on space, that's God and love. 



62 PEARLS OF THE GULF. 



C LX IV. 

Judge not a sister harsh nor ill, 
For the small faults that do not kill ; 
But judge her mild, and speak her well, 
Perchance she'll stop and with thee dwell. 

CLX V . 

Kind deeds and words cost silver none, 
And with them oft a fortune's won — 
Then maiden oft of virtue drink, 
And kindly speak, and kindly think. 

CLX VI. 

Leona, he a lion's bride, 
And lead him gently to thy side; 
With virtue still he chained and tamed, 
Then wilt thou he most truly named. 

C L . X V I I . 

Useless, dear girl, is all that work, 
To learn to fiown, to pout, to smirk, 
But useful 'tis to sweetly smile, 
And with soft ways the hours beguile. 



PEARLS OF THE GULP. 63 



CL X VI I I. 

Wilt thou not weep, oh ! maiden pure, 
At wrongs that woman must endure ? 
Then teach thy sisters one and all, 
To think on heaven when they would fall. 

c lxi x. 

Maiden, oft look in thy pure soul, 
See if thy virtue still is whole ; 
So if thou' It look, from day to day, 
'Twill charm the angels all this way. 

CL XX. 

Virgins still fair, are in our land, 
Virgins still pure, may clasp our hand ; 
Then while the earth its homage brings, 
Let both thy breasts be virgin springs. 



64 PEARLS OF THE GULP. 



XVIII. 



EVILS OF EATING FLESH. 



CLXXI . 



Each creeping ant, each busy bee, 
Men, fowls, and beasts, all life you see- 
All this is God in spirit birth, 
E'en to the airs that wheel the earth. 



C L X XI I. 



Now who doth crush worms of the sod, 
Gives pain to life, offends his God ; 
Who takes a life commits high sin, 
For where life is, God dwells therein. 



c L XX III. 



Ye sinful crew who live on flesh, 
Each day ye pierce the Christ afresh ; 
Aye, though at Church you kneel and pray, 
Your sins are dark in God's clear ray. 



PEARLS OF THE GULF. 65 

C LX X I V 

Shame on those men who talk of hell, 
Whose bosoms yet with slaughter swell- 
Will ye in public places pray, 
Then gourmand on ten lives u day ? 

C LX X V. 

Oh ! holy men, stamp not and frown, 
Your sins or I must kiss the ground ; 
From year to year, we kill and feast, 
And man to-day is half a beast I 

CLXXVI. 

Know this, ye crew, who live on flesh, 
From sexu'l poison death's born afresh; 
This poison quick in space doth run, 
And breathe it all beneath the sun. 

CLXXVI I. 

E'en plants inhale the fumes that pass, • 

But their low heat burns little gas ; 

'Tis most the beast's hot swelling lung, 

Imbibes the poisons round it flung. 
5 



66 PEARLS OF THE GULF. 



CLXX VIII. 

Back into space it breathes a part, 
But through its blood the rest doth dart, 
You now consume the poisoned flesh, 
Thus eat and! breathe of death afresh. 

CLX XIX . 

Ye are all dull in this learned age, 
Who do not see blood doth enrage ; 
If love of life constrains you not, 
Oh ! flee from flesh with poisons hot. 

C LXXX. 

Ye righteous men, who tread the sod, 
Ye are but worms with the life-God; 
For though you pray yet if you kill, 
You're but half born, I tell you still ! 



PEARLS OF THE GULP. 67 



XIX. 



ADVICE TO CITIZENS. 



CLXXXI. 

Give to your land a country's claim. 
An upright walk, a spotless name ; 
He longest keeps his country's praise, 
Who lives and dies in wisdom's ways. 

CLXXXII. 

Now still as come elections round, 
In mob nor riot ne'er be found ; 
Who yells and shouts along the street, 
Is a low man with vulgar feet. 

CLXXXIII. 

The giddy throngs that shout aloud, 
Are most a paid or drunken crowd ; 
Have pride and lofty stand aloof, 
The lowest class feels this reproof. 



68 PEARLS OF THE GTJLF. 



CL X XX I V. 

Be quick to see, but slow to vote, 
Nor give your name for a bank note ; 
The sordid wretch who sells his name, 
Deserves a cell and felon's fame. 

CLX XXV. 

Be not soon won with flaming speech, 
But let your judgment wisely teach ; 
Who hasty runs from side to side, 
Soon has no hob on which to ride. 

CLX X XVI. 

The soil improve, improve your land, 
Give to the spade a steady hand — 
No lands, no nations, yet arise, 
Who do but work in shady skies. 

CL X X X VII. 

Be much inclined to simple ways, 
The greatest men make the least blaze j 
Who tries to wag with foreign tone, 
Nor uses that and spoils his own. 



PEARLS OF THE GULF. 69 



CLXXX VIII. 

In civil broils each land oft runs, 
It mangles, slays its noble sons ; 
Lend all thy strength to quell its rage, 
The land will crown thy green old age. 

CL XX XIX . 

To schools and scholars pure give aid, 
On their success long fame is laid ; 
Let all pronounce 'gainst drunken tomes, 
Take, all, pure wisdom to your homes. 

cxc . 

For whom you vote, let him be wise, 
A friend to man, God, and the skies ; 
Let not men rule with morals lax, . 
They build up wars, and man's the tax. 



70 PEARLS OF THE GULF. 



XX. 



SUGGESTIONS TO AUTHORS. 



CXCI 



With moral thoughts your book should teem, 
The good, the pure, a constant theme — 
Yet so indite your thoughts of these, 
The world shall love them for their ease. 

CXCII. 

Be modest, plain, have a neat dress, 
Be not too quick to curse, nor bless ; 
So shall your book by all be read, 
In temples great your name shall lead. 

cxciii . ! 

Good manners pay best in a book, 
Here all survey with leisure's look ; 
No borrowed coat conceals your tone, 
Men view men's coats most by their own. 



PEARLS OP THE GULF. 71 

CX CIV. 

Give to your thoughts a christian care, 
Nor send them to the world unfair ; 
The witless wight who writes in haste, 
Is but half read then used for waste. 

cx c v. 

On nature's sense now ground your rules, 
And thus outlive all hasty schools ; 
The errors most that round us flame, 
Live but an hour then die in shame. 

cxc VI. 
Still as you write, write not all sad, 
But make your friends sometimes look glad ; 
Have life enough to cheer your friends, 
They'll read you then at odds and ends. 

OXC Y II. 

Now authors oft assume the right 
To show the sun then live in might : 
But who would have great moral weight, 
Should follow his own teachings straight. 



72 PEARLS OF THE GULP. 

CXC VI I I. 

v 

Above all things be at your ease, 
And have no wits and kings to please, 
Nor be some cautious man at home, 
With thought to write a mighty tome. 

CXCIX. 

Be not in haste to win a name, 
Tempt no man on with bottle's flame ; 
One half the muses should be dumb, 
For half our wars from war songs come. 

cc. 

For G-od and Time your muse should burn, 
For all mankind be fired in turn ; 
Time saves that name which virtue strews, 
And heaven delights in a pure muse ! 

THE END. 



